Disability Unit Regional Stakeholder Network
The Regional Stakeholder Network helps to ensure disabled people's voices across England are heard by the government.
About the Network
The Regional Stakeholder Network (RSN) was set up in 2019 by the Disability Unit (DU).
The network’s main purpose is to enable disabled people and disability organisations in England to share their lived experience and insight with the UK government. The government can use information provided by the RSN to help design, develop and run policies and services.
The RSN’s other objectives are to:
- improve the representation of individuals and smaller disability organisations in government policy making
- make engaging with government easier and more accessible for disabled people, both in person and virtually
- support the government in meeting Article 4.3 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights Disabled People
We use the term ‘disabled people’ to mean people of any age facing disabling barriers in society due to their impairments or conditions. This includes people with:
- physical impairments
- mental ill health
- hearing impairments (including D/deaf people with BSL as their first language)
- visual impairments
- learning difficulties
- neurodiverse conditions
- chronic illness or fatigue
Regions
There are 9 regions in the network:
- North West (Cumbria, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Merseyside)
- North East (Tees Valley and Durham, and Northumberland and Tyne and Wear)
- Yorkshire and the Humber (East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and West Yorkshire)
- West Midlands (Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire and West Midlands)
- East Midlands (Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire, and Lincolnshire)
- South West (Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bristol and Bath area, Dorset and Somerset, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, and Devon)
- South East (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, Surrey, East and West Sussex, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, and Kent)
- East of England (East Anglia, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and Essex)
- Greater London (Inner London and Outer London)
Each region’s membership is made up of local disabled people, parents and carers of disabled people, and disabled people’s representative organisations.
Each region meets at least 4 times a year. The meetings give people an open forum to share their views and experiences of policies and services that affect disabled people.
Terms of reference
RSN members
We encourage members to:
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attend their regional meetings as often as they can (and send apologies if they cannot attend)
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arrive on time and stay for the whole meeting
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take part in discussions and debates in a considered and constructive way
The government engages with the network through the regional chairs. Members should only contact the DU on an exceptional basis.
Each regional chair decides on their network’s members. They use their own discretion when deciding whether someone can join, and the Disability Unit does not require information about the make-up of a specific network.
Personal data, such as email addresses, is kept only by the network chair. Members can be removed from their network under exceptional circumstances at the discretion of the chair or the Disability Unit.
Chairs
Each region has a voluntary chair who is independent of the government.
The Disability Unit recruits chairs based on their:
- understanding of disability issues specific to their regions
- expertise in disability policy and its effects at grassroots level
They are usually either disabled themselves or work in disabled people’s organisations.
Regional chairs and the Disability Unit meet every month, with one in-person event each year. Meeting agendas are agreed by the chairs and the Disability Unit according to the following principles:
- Ensure fairness and equality – we will empower disabled people by promoting fairness and equality of opportunities, outcomes and experiences, including work and access to products and services
- Consider disability from the start – we will embed inclusive and accessible approaches and services to avoid creating disabling experiences from the outset
- Support independent living – we will encourage initiatives that support all disabled people to have choice and control in life
- Increase participation – we will enable greater inclusion of a diverse disabled population in the development and delivery of services, products and policies
- Deliver joined-up responses – we will work across organisational boundaries and improve data and evidence to better understand and respond to complex issues that affect disabled people
Current chairs and contact details
East Midlands
Justin Donne, Chair of Trustees, Autistic Nottingham
Greater London
Marc Goblot, Founder/Lead – Tech For Disability, British Computing Society NeurodiverseIT, We and AI, Ina Ciel Digital Disability
North East
Joanne Wilkes-Waterworth, Deputy Director of Strategic Planning, HM Passport Office
North West (vacant)
Former chair: Michele Scattergood (interim), former CEO of Breakthrough UK, a successful Manchester-based disabled people’s organisation
South East
Chloe Plummer, Programme Co-ordinator, MOVE Europe
South West
Samantha Everard, Founder, the SAMEE charity
West Midlands
Louise Mckiernan, Chief Executive, Birmingham Disability Resource Centre
East of England
Anne Wafula Strike MBE, Sports Ambassador, non-executive director of Princess Alexandra Trust, Harlow and British Paralympic Association
Yorkshire and the Humber (vacant)
Former chair: Mark J Taylor (interim), Access Officer for Cambridge City Council and regional chair for the Access Association
rsnyorksandthehumber@gmail.com
Get involved
Apply to join a Regional Stakeholder Network
If you want to join your regional network, please either:
- contact your local regional chair
- complete the application form and email it to your regional chair
You should be interested in the issues facing people with disabilities. You do not have to be a disabled person to become a member.
Members are not paid, but the Disability Unit will refund travel expenses for the annual in-person meeting.
News and achievements
Update from the West Midlands meeting in October 2023
The meeting was chaired by Rob Punton, deputy chair of the West Midlands RSN. The attendees included members of the RSN and members of the public from the region.
The group discussed the following parts of the Disability Action Plan consultation:
- access to elected office
- playground accessibility
- Special Olympics World Summer Games
- addressing access refusal for guide dogs
- support for disabled parents
- disability evidence and improvement programme
There was also a group discussion on what they felt was missing from the Disability Action Plan.
Update from the East Midlands meeting in September 2023
Justin, chair of the East Midlands RSN, said:
“We gathered virtually to discuss crucial topics related to accessibility, inclusivity, and employment opportunities. Here’s a summary.”
Concerns were raised about the closure of ticket offices, particularly the impact on people with disabilities. Electronic ticketing may not be accessible to everyone, highlighting potential discrimination.
The proposed removal of conductors from trains raised concerns about assistance for disabled passengers and the need for a human presence for security and help.
Challenges in transitioning disabled individuals into employment were discussed, emphasising the limited opportunities and the need for risk assessments.
The network also discussed risk assessments and accessibility in employment, support programmes and coaching, universal credit and transition and several other issues.
Please contact Justin if you would like further information about the network.
Disability Action Plan
The public consultation on the Disability Action Plan (DAP) closed on 6 October 2023. The chairs worked with their members on creating regional responses to the consultation document.
Accessibility and the Coronation
RSN chairs Justin Donne and Sam Everard helped to ensure the Coronation of HRH King Charles III was accessible.
Justin, chair of the East Midlands RSN, said:
We provided advice to event planners for His Majesty The King’s Coronation, dedicated to improving accessibility and accommodations for disabled individuals at a number of event locations, including the King’s Coronation celebrations.
Sam, chair of the South West RSN, said,
Wayne [who provides support to Sam] and I were really proud to input into the King’s Coronation Accessibility Panel. We were able to attend meetings both online and in person which really helped me due to my disability and we felt both valued and listened to. What was lovely was we were able to speak honestly about challenges we had faced at other events, share real lived experience from our Regional Stakeholder Network members and help to shape the accessible areas within London for the main event… plus those ideas were explored and implemented which really demonstrated how important our ideas and comments were.